Liberty Matters

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.”

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Eric Mack discusses John Locke’s theory of property to which Jan Narveson, Peter Vallentyne, and Michael… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Geoffrey Brennan assesses the work of the Nobel Prize winning economist James Buchanan with responses and… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Roderick T. Long assesses the work of the French political economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) with… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Robert Leroux discusses the work of the French political economist Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) with… more

This online discussion engages with George Smith on his book The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (CUP 2013). Smith describes the works of the history of political thought which inspired him, and the… more

This online discussion addresses the contribution of Arthur Seldon ((1916-2005) to the success of the London based Institute of Economic Affairs in spreading free market ideas in Britain. Much of its success can be attributed to… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Lawrence H. White revisits Mises' pathbreaking 1912 book on Mises’ book The Theory of Money and Credit. The… more

In this online discussion, Fernando R. Tesón explores what Grotius thought about the proper relationship between the laws of nature and the laws of nations, what limits (if any) can be legitimately and rightly placed on the conduct… more

In this Liberty Matters discussion, Aurelian Craiutu argues that Tocqueville was not just an observer of democracy in America but also a theorist of democracy who wanted to create “a new science of politics” suitable to the new world… more

The key issue of this Liberty Matters discussion is to try to explain why “the Great Enrichment” of the past 150 years occurred when and where it did. McCloskey argues that a fundamental change in ideas took place which raised the “… more

The political thought of James Mill is not as well known as it should be. This online discussion with a lead essay by Sandra J. Peart, attempts to reassess his contribution to classical liberal political theory via his dichotomy… more

The English sociologist and individualist political philosopher Herbert Spencer has been either completely neglected or badly misinterpreted by scholars for over one hundred years. In this discussion George Smith explores an… more

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” Here we examine the career of Richard Cobden and in particular the way that he pioneered forms of advocacy… more

In this discussion David Hart surveys the field of ideological movements and present a theory of ideological production and distribution based upon Austrian capital theory as it might be applied to the production of ideas.

This online discussion is part of the series “Liberty Matters: A Forum for the Discussion of Matters pertaining to Liberty.” In this discussion the contributors evaluate the contributions of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (1851-1914) who was… more

This Liberty Matters discussion invited four leading historians to explain what Magna Carta was, why it has appealed to so many people over the years, the impact it has had on the development of Anglo-American legal and political… more

In this month’s Liberty Matters online discussion we reassess the economic ideas of John Stuart Mill as found in his classic work Principles of Political Economy and other writings. The Lead Essay by Steven Kates argues that in the… more

The Anglo-Hungarian economist Anthony de Jasay turned 90 in 2015. To celebrate this event Liberty Fund organized a Liberty Matters discussion of his work as an economic and political theorist which came to public attention with the… more

In this discussion of Montesquieu’s economic thought, in particular his ideas about the need for sumptuary laws in republics, Henry Clark of Dartmouth College investigates this little appreciated aspect of Montesquieu’s thinking and… more

In this discussion Randy Barnett explores the political thought and constitutional theories of the 19th century American individualist, anarchist, and abolitionist Lysander Spooner (1808-1887). He concludes that “Spooner’s approach… more

ty.” In this discussion Sanford Ikeda returns to the original theory of interventionism posed by Mises in 1940 to examine it in the light of the work done in Austrian economic theory since then.

Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom (2014), argues that there is a tension within liberal theories of freedom, between views concerned with the risk of tyranny posed by the modern, centralized and centralizing, Weberian state and… more

This Liberty Matters online discussion examines Israel Kirzner’s insights into the rivalrous nature of competitive behavior and the market process, his analysis of market theory and the operation of the price system, the… more

The year 2017 marked the bicentenary of Germaine de Staël’s death (1766-1817). Although her name almost never appears in textbooks or histories of political thought in the English-speaking world her political thought is undeniably… more